EMITAPE History
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Over the period from the mid 1950s to 1981 EMI produced magnetic tape and sold them both as blank tapes and prerecorded tapes in a large number of formats. We focus on the professional tape used to record and distribute the Beatles material. Here we display what we know about the history showing, where possible, images of the tape boxes and reels, along with the approximate dates that each type of tape was sold based on information we've garnered having collected these for decades. Early audio tape was magnetic oxide material applied to a paper backing. Adhesion of the magnetic layer to paper was an ongoing problem, solved when acetate came into use as the backing material in the forties. Acetate, an ester of acetic acid, is flammable and has stringent temperature and humidity storage requirements to keep the acetate from degrading to acetic acid (vinegar syndrome). By the sixties, polyester films solved these problems and dominated the tape market. It looks like EMI’s first commercial EMITAPES were released in the mid-late 50s. The box used the older EMI logos; there are at least two variants. The first (top) was light blue, dark blue and ornage and used the original EMI logos. The second variant was black,orange and red. It appears as if an 8.25 inch diameter aluminum reel was common for commercial use, and 10.5 inch aluminum was used for professional tapes. The first examples I’ve run across are type 44 (acetate backed) and 88 (PVC-backed) for commercial and type 77 for professional, also PVC. Type 77 was 1.5 mil thick, so a 10.5 inch reel held 2400 feet of tape, giving 32 minutes of recording time when taped at 15 inches per second (38 cm/s), more than adequate for one side of an album. The Beatles albums from Please Please Me through Rubber Soul were recorded onto type 77 EMITAPE, as evidenced by the MFSL tape box pictures. During this time some studios (but mostly not EMI Abbey Road), used AEG DIN “bobbys”, basically the inner spool of a tape reel, but with a different locking interface design, onto which tape was wound and stored either wound onto the bobby attached to the DIN plate, or wound onto the bobby and then taped securely to itself (a 'pancake') so that the tension of the tape would keep the tape wound even when (gently) unloaded or reloaded onto a recorder. Around 1963, a newer “red” box design emerged, with a clean "mod" electrical signal design, though the same six-spoke 10.5 inch aluminum reel, mechanically-stamped EMITAPE on two spokes was used. Early versions had “Manufactured in Gr. Brit. EMI HAYES/MIDDLESEX” around the top of the flange, and/or “MADE IN GT BRITAIN” across the bottom. These 10.5 inch aluminum reels were popular throughout the sixties and were so numerous that they remained in use well into the seventies. The first five Beatles albums were recording on Type 77 EMITAPE. Most Master Tape Reels provided to EMI affiliates worldwide were distributed on EMITAPE type 77 through the mid-late sixties. Also in the mid-sixties, EMITAPE released commercial grade type 99, at 1 mil thickness allowing 1.5x as much tape on the reel and type 100 at 0.75 mil thickness allowing twice as much tape on a reel. These tapes were generally not used in studio work because they were less substantial to work with and had much greater print-through issues. In the late 60s, EMI redesigned both the EMITAPE boxes and reels. The new boxes were aqua blue with an 'atomic' image made up by three superimposed images of tape reels. The reels were changed to blue painted EMITAPE emblems and later to a blue EMITAPE sticker (occasionally the sticker is just "EMI" by itself ). This changed corresponded with new tape types, type 802 and 811 (Revolver, which began recording in April 1966, was the first Beatles album recorded on EMITAPE type 811). There are at least four variations of the reels we've encountered. It seems likely that the six spoke versions were earlier and the three-hole versions were later. There are at least 4 variations of the dark blue boxes, though the exact packaging of the box and the insert that holds the reel centered in the box varied over time. The new box types presumably corresponded with release of each new tape types 815, 816, 825, 832, 851, 852 and 862. The most recent EMITAPE type we have is type 862 and is packaged in a slightly larger box than earlier types. EMITAPE production ended in May, 1981. 
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